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Internet 101 - Are They Tracking Me?


bgavin

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Yes.

Most internet sites employ Trackers to generate ad revenue for them.
These are very busy, as they consume lots of resources and bandwidth.

Every item, news story or tool ad you click is tracked.
This information is then sold to subscribers who jam a tailored ad in your face.
Browse lawn mowers at Home Depot, you will get an ad for the same on Facebook a minute later.

This is "data mining" and used to identify your IP and personal traits.
Every little quiz or game you play on Social Media is data mining.
People would be astounded at the amount of personal information they have volunteered, which is now in a data mining database.

The opposite are those content-only sites that are derided by script kiddies and web site authors as "dull and boring."
The graphic below shows an invasive site (all the news media) compared to content-only sites.

Our own Bullets by Scarlett is a prime example of a well written, and non-invasive web site.
SASS Net, Powder Valley, Grafs, Natchez, Starline and even Midway are also content-only sites.



 

Firefox.Taskmaster.FoxNews.Composite.png

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BUT, is the reason they aren't "tracked" like other sites because they are gun related and the social media giants won't sell advertising to gun related entities so they can shove them in your face?

 

 

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No.
I own several web sites, none are tracked because I didn't sign up to track and sell user data.
Each web site that employs trackers has done so, to generate revenue.

IMO, Social Media giants will sell anything to anybody if it generates revenue.
Unless folks know how to dig it out (above) the vast majority of them, and the "woke" have zero clue about how they are tracked, nor who buys their information.
 

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Really? You think Facebook would sell ads to Ruger or any gun manufacturer? I have trouble believing this.

 

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just curious. 

 

It's an interesting topic. I own/run 3 web sites too. None have been signed up to track user data. 1 deals with Flintlock rifles, one deals with Bibles/Christianity, one deals with Banjos/Mountain Dulcimers.  For some reason when I go to Facebook I get hammered with banjo and dulcimer related stuff, but NOT Flintlock rifles or Christian related things. 

 

 

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Facebook sells their user data.
They data mine an enormous amount of personal information from their huge member list.
This is done by their endless games and quizzes.

For example, "who was your favorite grade school teacher?"
"Who was your best man"
"Where did you meet your spouse"
Many folks use these for security question responses.

They also sell targeted ads they get from other user data provided by other trackers.

[ edit ]

This link provides a good explanation how it works.

https://www.cookiepro.com/blog/website-tracking/
 

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Many years ago, a webcomic I read had an ad on it. It was gun related - I don't recall what it was, gun, ammo, accessory, whatever -but it was gun related.

 

I sent an email to the artist - the lady that draws the comic and owns the site. I told her how happy I was to see this gun related ad somewhere besides a dedicated gun site. Because, pretty much, that's the only place you will see a gun related ad.

 

She must have misunderstood my email. She replied, apologizing for the ad, and telling me that she had chewed Google's ass, and made sure they understood NOT to put any more gun ads on her site.

 

To quote the bear philosopher, "oh bother".

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I mostly use Duck Duck Go and if m searching for lawn mowers etc. they never come up on Facebook or anywhere else. DDG has a feature where you can clear the data and it works! I very seldom use Google anymore!

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I mentioned in another post that we have a couple of milk goats. We have bought supplies (filters and other goat related products) online. After that similar adds will pop up. 

 

Recently my wife stopped milking to dry out the goats untill the next breeding. We have never had goat milk adds pop up before but now just as she stopped milking I'm seeing adds for goat milk.  How?

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What I absolutely hate on the news sites I frequent is they will have a video of some event.  You click on it and a window pops up that says to view the video you MUST log into Facebook or create a new account.  It says that if you agree your information will be used to send you targeted ads and will be sold to third parties.  I always click no and can't watch the video.  I wish Fox and others would not post this crap if you have to become a victim of Facebook to watch it.

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24 minutes ago, Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 said:

What I absolutely hate on the news sites I frequent is they will have a video of some event.  You click on it and a window pops up that says to view the video you MUST log into Facebook or create a new account.  It says that if you agree your information will be used to send you targeted ads and will be sold to third parties.  I always click no and can't watch the video.  I wish Fox and others would not post this crap if you have to become a victim of Facebook to watch it.

Or subscribe (like Washington Post) to finish reading!!!

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27 minutes ago, Singin' Sue 71615 said:

Or subscribe (like Washington Post) to finish reading!!!

I hate that!!!

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7 hours ago, Tyrel Cody said:

Really? You think Facebook would sell ads to Ruger or any gun manufacturer? I have trouble believing this.

 

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just curious. 

 

It's an interesting topic. I own/run 3 web sites too. None have been signed up to track user data. 1 deals with Flintlock rifles, one deals with Bibles/Christianity, one deals with Banjos/Mountain Dulcimers.  For some reason when I go to Facebook I get hammered with banjo and dulcimer related stuff, but NOT Flintlock rifles or Christian related things. 

 

 

How about a message to tell me how to get to your flintlock site.

 

Thanks

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8 minutes ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

How about a message to tell me how to get to your flintlock site.

 

Thanks

I replied to your PM, but I can post it here I think.

 

https://mikebrooksflintlocks.com

 

No that isn't me, I just created a site for Mike a few  years ago to help him out. He's a master Flintlock builder from Iowa.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here is one of those darn Facebook extorsion ads.  You have to click or you can't see the news article.  Some even say clicking yes will also allow them to send you "targeted ads."  This one is off CBS news.  The news sites should not post articles if you have to agree to surrender your private information to see them.

 

 

Screen Shot 2021-10-01 at 7.48.25 PM.png

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NOTE: DDG = DuckDuckGo
 

I had an interesting scenario at work. 
I have to use Google at work because it’s part of the “package” per IT. If I load DDG the next time they purge unauthorized programs and such it vanishes. 
 

Anyway, I use DDG on my iPhone. If I use Google I use it in “incognito mode”. The other day I was at work on my PC and when I hovered over the Google search bar some of my searches from the day before appeared. I was shocked! I do not want the idiots at work monitoring my activities, but I was confused how this happened and assumed that incognito mode wasn’t so “”incognito”.

Upon further investigation I discovered  that Apple actually defaulted or allowed my phone to default to Google on Safari, an Apple engine, so somehow when I opened things in DDG that opened in Safari somehow a cookie was created on my Google account. 
At least that is how it appears. I am still trying to figure this out. 
Also, in DDG, when I have done a search on there and opened a YouTube video the search words appear on Google at work. 
 

I have debated removing all things Google, but that would mean I could not view YouTube videos, I am sure.

 

I also did an experiment with DDG on these websites that want you to download cookies to view site. It appears that as long as the site isn’t linked to Google somehow when you bail out of DDG the cookies appear to disappear on the iPhone. If they don’t disappear I have no idea where they might be on my phone. 

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Last week I happened to go to Beretta's website. I've since been getting Beretta ads whenever I go to Weather.com. That's the only place I get ads because I've paused my ad blockers on there, because that's the only way I can use the site. 

I'm willing to deal with that because it's the only weather site that gives me the weather info I want. 

I have AdBlock, Adblock Plus, and Ads Killer, all free downloads. I DON'T GET ADS!:D

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Yeah I have all those ad blockers and many, many sites won't let you on until you deactivate ad blockers.  There is less and less I can see on the Internet.

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I use AdBlock Plus with a downlevel version of Firefox.
I have to whitelist more and more sites.. as you note above.

I keep the downlevel version of FF because the newer version have broken the Print Preview and refuse to rectify this.
I do a LOT of Print-To-PDF, and FF 83.0 appears to be the most recent version that is not broken.
Mozilla continues taking a lot of heat over this, but still refuses to restore the Print Preview we value so greatly.

I keep a current copy of Chrome for those sites such as Netflix that refuse to connect to any browser below the absolute latest version.

I am soooo glad I am retired from all this crap.
 

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